歷代三寶紀 4.174

4.174

The above one hundred seventy-six works, comprising one hundred ninety-seven rolls, [were translated by] the crown prince of the Kingdom of Parthia (Anxi), named Qing, style Shigao. He was next in succession to the throne, but yielded it to his uncle. Thereupon he renounced his realm, shaved his head, and left home, cherishing the Way and traveling across regions with the propagation of the teachings as his duty. In the second year of the Jianhe era during the reign of Emperor Xiaohuan, vibrating his tin staff he arrived in state at the city of Luoyang. In a short time he learned the language and became thoroughly versed in Chinese speech. Lamenting that the conversion of the Dharma was still slender, he undertook extensive translation. Up to the reign of Emperor Ling, this spanned more than twenty years. The catalogue of Shi Dao'an, Sengyou's Chu sanzang jiji, and Huijiao's Gaoseng zhuan merely state that Shigao translated thirty-nine works. The meanings and principles are clear and discriminating, the wording fitting and correct, eloquent without being ornate, plain without being rustic; all who read them do so untiringly and indefatigably. I, Zhangfang, have inquired widely, thoroughly inspecting multiple catalogues and records, and found that works attributed to Shigao appear and disappear inconsistently. From this it may be known that expedients and traces manifest or conceal themselves in diverse manners, or perhaps the biographers have caused considerable discrepancies. I consider that the thirty-nine works recorded in the biographies were perhaps only those translated from the time he came along the road from Dunhuang until his arrival and stay at the capital. At the end of Emperor Ling's reign, the Guanzhong region fell into chaos, whereupon he crossed south of the Yangtze River. As a man of understanding sees his opportunity and translates wherever he happens to be, he came to know what was missing and not yet transmitted elsewhere. Furthermore, at the end of his biography it indeed states: 'As for those texts recorded in the old catalogues, these were all Shigao's revisions of earlier translations, not necessarily complete translations of new texts.' Now, bringing together all the treatises and fully searching miscellaneous records, those that bear titles and annotations were mostly extracted from larger works along the road through Hexi and Jiangnan as circumstances allowed. The fact that catalogued titles are scattered is insufficient cause for doubt. Since those [earlier catalogues] preserved what they saw, how could I not compile them? I venture to follow the collections, compiling and binding them together, in the hope of broadening the flow of the Dharma and making known the primary source. If one wishes to know his traces, they are detailed in the various biographies.